


Art and music for 'Cold Wind from Teksa'corani'

by Salchat



Series: Salchat's Stargate Fan Art [18]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Action Scenes, F/M, Fanart, Fight Scene, Gen, Love Scene, Map - Freeform, More tags when I've drawn all the pictures, Original Character(s), Slaves, Snow, Topless John Sheppard (it was hot!), Various media - Freeform, alien animals, landscapes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28671879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salchat/pseuds/Salchat
Summary: This is art and music for my Western-themed story and includes the 'bookcover', pictures of characters and scenes, and at least one map.  There'll be at least one piece of art for every chapter, in larger sizes than I've embedded in the story, to be posted as the chapters unfold.I'm also including the theme music, which also has a vocal version!
Relationships: John Sheppard/Original Female Character(s), Rodney McKay/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Salchat's Stargate Fan Art [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859335
Comments: 21
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Cold Wind from Teksa'corani](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28632672) by [Salchat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salchat/pseuds/Salchat). 



This cover is based upon art by Harry Schaare, an American artist who painted mainly 'pulp' art for book covers and magazine illustrations. I find pulp art fascinatingly lively and colourful, and the dramatic perspectives and scenes have inspired more than one of my scenes in this story. I used pastels on yellow sugar paper for this picture.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50814277456/in/dateposted-public/)

[Click here for theme music](https://youtu.be/ojeBiS4LUG0)  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes find themselves abandoned on an alien planet and rapidly get into trouble - raising some money, gambling in the saloon and getting into a fight!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50828233852/in/dateposted-public/)

_For the second time that day, John pushed himself up, wincing..._

__

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50828145071/in/dateposted-public/)

_...he had nearly a full hand of suns..._

__

__

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50828233892/in/dateposted-public/)

__

_...dodging blows and lashing out with what strategy he could muster..._

__


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Rodney spend a miserable night in a jail cell, are rescued by a new friend and set of on another adventure!

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50837304338/in/dateposted-public/)

_"What's all this about, Mrs Kennet?" John asked. "What do you want from us?"_

_[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50838075866/in/dateposted-public/) _

_"What, he's an outlaw?" Rodney wondered how old Lara was; hardly old enough to have a grown up, turned-to-crime son. He needed a drink. The cookie seemed to have absorbed all of his saliva._

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50838027201/in/dateposted-public/) _

_The sun was rising behind the hills, but they rode still in the cold shadows of night. Turning in his saddle, the leather creaking, John could just see tiny pricks of lantern light far behind and below, on the edge of the plain._

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50838111877/in/dateposted-public/) _

_He pictured her as she'd been back at the diner, checking her weapons for the journey. She was an interesting, capable woman, able to manage her firearms and her mount as well as she managed her kitchen and her customers._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Rodney's heroic moments, captured in pastels!

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50851920243/in/dateposted-public/)

_Pistol-shots rang out, chips of rock flew up around him. John kept running toward the cliff edge. He felt a burn across the top of his left shoulder and then the land began to fall away, gradually at first, so that he saw the engine to his left, shadowed by the cliff, then more steeply so that he could see the cars streaming past below. He halted his headlong flight, poised on his toes. Then he leapt._

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50852735252/in/dateposted-public/) _

_He ran, through the panicking grennets, toward the wraith drones and their stunners, and as he ran he let the bag fall to the full extent of its long strings and then drew back his arm and swung once, bringing his arm in past his head to tighten the arc and increase the speed, then back again, wide, and at that critical point he snapped his wrist forward and released the whole thing, hurling it toward the drones._


	5. Chapter 5

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50863151297/in/dateposted-public/)

_They’d started in Gulderren and travelled north and slightly west. Then they’d moved east to meet the railroad. But then their headlong flight had taken them south and they’d crossed the track again, although he didn’t think they’d travelled as far south as to take them past Symona. Gulderren was, he thought, south and west of Symona. So, they hadn’t quite travelled in a circle, but maybe a kind of spiral._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50863151162/in/dateposted-public/)

_Outside, the air was every bit as clear and fresh as he’d hoped. John stood on the verandah and breathed it in, trying to ignore the protest of all those muscles involved in deep breathing, which seemed like far more than was reasonable._

 __

__

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50863151242/in/dateposted-public/)

__

_...shiny chestnut curls bounced in the corner of his eye, and in the fleeting glance that Rodney had risked toward his admirer, he’d noted an attractively playful look in the green eyes and softly curving lips, veiled behind a thin veneer of innocence._

__


	6. Chapter 6

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50876864443/in/dateposted-public/)

_"Are there no other staff?" demanded Penfell._

 __

_"No sir, just old Red, no one else, no indeedy."_

_"That's a no, then," muttered Rodney..._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50877526261/in/dateposted-public/)

_Lightning flashed and then a moment later there was a shattering crash and the grennet took off down the track._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50876864388/in/dateposted-public/)

_"The scaffold's the place for them!" said Penfell with satisfaction, condemning a good proportion of the populace of the planet._


	7. Chapter 7

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50886814848/in/dateposted-public/)

_"Ugly-lookin' customer," said Tom._

_[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50887533586/in/dateposted-public/) _

_...Rodney knew they'd captured John's hair perfectly._

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50887533521/in/dateposted-public/) _

_"I don't wanna go to bed 'cause I'm not tired and it's not fair!"_

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50886814978/in/dateposted-public/) _

_...beyond his stiff, straight arms and the wavering pistol, Rodney saw a great, black shape, a lump of darkness on the ground..._


	8. Chapter 8

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50901728752/in/dateposted-public/)

_The cords stung and burned at John's wrists and ankles. He'd jerked against them involuntarily each time Rodney had flinched._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50901728672/in/dateposted-public/)

_The vrax stood atop Mrs Penfell's body and in a final flicker of lightning it turned its savage gaze on Rodney, its head down, its tail erect and lashing at the sky. It opened its mouth and roared out its ownership of the kill._

 __

__

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50901728792/in/dateposted-public/)

__

_Wind whipped loose strands of hair in front of her face. She grinned and her cheeks were pink above the swathes of her scarf._

__


	9. Chapter 9

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50910865011/in/dateposted-public/)

[Click here for Morla's song](https://youtu.be/aUB1_dthTvY)  


[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50910864931/in/dateposted-public/)

_Rodney's shoulders were shaking again, but he wasn’t laughing._

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50910173793/in/dateposted-public/) _

__... the snow fell more thickly so that the grennets shuffled through an increasing layer and John was worried that they would climb so high that the trail would be impassable._ _


	10. Chapter 10

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50924851833/in/dateposted-public/)

_She flopped down on the couch, reclining on the thick cushioning._


	11. Chapter 11

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50935677132/in/dateposted-public/)

_It was snowing again and the single streetlight outside the railroad station cast a cone of sickly yellow tumbling flakes. Narrow slits of orange marked the edges of small, mean windows in the small, mean houses that lined the steep thoroughfare in serried, identical ranks._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50935677182/in/dateposted-public/)

_Rodney took off his pants but left his sweater and shirt over his long underwear and pulled on an extra pair of socks._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50934870818/in/dateposted-public/)

_John's voice came from beneath the blankets, just his eyes and rumpled hair peering above._

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50935677152/in/dateposted-public/) _

__She pulled out various pins and bands from her hair and scrubbed at her scalp as the chestnut curls fell loose._ _


	12. Chapter 12

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50949838546/in/dateposted-public/)

_"Everyone knows this lot's rich in silver, even us young 'uns." She slapped the wall. "And where there's silver there's trinnie, ain't there?"_

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50949131203/in/dateposted-public/) _

__Morla tipped her head so that it landed squarely on her lips, bringing up her hands to Rodney’s collar to hold him in place._ _


	13. Chapter 13

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50959337242/in/dateposted-public/)

_"Why did you cover it up?"_

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50958533948/in/dateposted-public/)

__"Sheppard! Are you there?"_ _


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These illustrations are copied and adapted from 'pulp' art by Mort Kunstler. For the first I've use a variety of soft and hard pastels on paper; the second is willow charcoal and pastel on canvas.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50972311562/in/dateposted-public/)

_There was a distant rumbling, whining sound. Figures moved in the distance. Rodney fired at the same time as John. A man fell. Morla joined them, but more figures could be seen, jumping off a powered train and running down the track toward them. Slow them down, John had said. Give us a chance. What could he do to stop the pursuit?_

_[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50971515638/in/dateposted-public/) _

__“Hold on! Morla, hold on.”_ _


	15. Chapter 15

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50982442782/in/dateposted-public/)

_An old woman lying near to John looked at him incuriously and then her gaze drifted away. One blank-eyed man rocked, increasing the natural motion of the car, a last-ditch resort into the comfort of infancy. The light flickered as they passed through shadows, the white stripes strobing on and off._


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first of these pictures is a subtractive charcoal drawing, that is, where you cover the paper in charcoal and then 'draw' with an eraser to create a dramatic effect. The second is soft pastel. I tried to put across the coldness of the scene, the blue reflected snowlight and Rodney's bleak feelings.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50996502702/in/dateposted-public/)

_John’s hands dug into his scalp and he pulled at his hair, groaning, his jaw clenched tight, his mouth contorted with agony and confusion._

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50996503567/in/dateposted-public/)

_It was snowing again and Rodney followed the tumbling flakes as they fell toward the broad sidewalk below, and collected on top of the iron railings that fenced in the Hefferen’s elegant house, each finial being surmounted with a tiny cap of white._


	17. Chapter 17

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/51005295198/in/dateposted-public/)

_“I shouldn’t’ve left you. In the mine.”_

_“What choice did you have?”_

_His friend looked up, his eyes sore and red above shadow-smudges of exhaustion. “None.”_


	18. Chapter 18

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/51019059488/in/dateposted-public/)

_He tore his eyes away from the sky and looked at the woman he held, who held him in return. “Lara.” She buried her head on his shoulder and he turned his face into her hair where yet lingered the scent of warm hearths and gun oil and acceptance._

_There was still hope; hope that rescue would come, that Morla and Venna had told their tale and that even now the forces of Atlantis were coming. Or, if he and Rodney and Morla and all the others were taken by the culling beam, they could fight and hope to break free from the Wraith. He and Rodney had done it before; they’d do it again. They would fight. And John knew that even when others’ strength failed, even when his own strength failed, he would not stop fighting, though victory was impossible. He would fight for his friends and for innocent strangers, and he would fight for the woman he loved._

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/51019059528/in/dateposted-public/)

_Of one thing, however, Rodney was certain. No matter what human relationships he decided to follow up in the future, there was one significant other to whom he would remain forever bound: Atlantis._


	19. Chapter 19

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/51029000306/in/dateposted-public/)

_She kissed him, suddenly, intensely and he felt in the kiss the things that were hard for her to say._

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/51028273548/in/dateposted-public/)

_But for just a moment longer, Rodney watched, and though, of course, as an astrophysicist, he knew very well that stars were simply huge, churning masses of hydrogen and helium, he was nevertheless tempted to wish upon one; to seal in a star's nuclear forge his 'live long and prosper' hope for his friend and his friend's love._


End file.
